Abstract:International capital mobility has
long been associated with financial and banking crises.The Articles of Agreement of the
International Monetary Fund contain multi-lateral rules to govern global
capital flows.For some countries,
especially those in the developing world, the IMF Articles of Agreement remain
the core framework under which they have autonomy to regulate cross-border
capital flows.For others, these rules
have been partly superseded by more recent trade and other economic integration
agreements.Thus what used to be a
regime of âcooperative decentralizationâ has become a patchwork of overlapping
and inconsistent governance structures that pose significant challenges to
nations attempting to regulate global capital flows for stability and
growth.This paper traces the history of
governing global capital flows and presents a framework for understanding three
distinct eras in the modern governance of global capital.The framework emphasizes how power,
interests, ideas, and institutions interact to shape each era in different
combinations to yield different outcomes.From this perspective, there are many challenges ahead for effectively
governing global capital flows.